Power Distance and Collectivist/Individualist Strategies in Alcohol Warnings: Effects by Gender and Ethnicity

Abstract

This research examined the responses of 73 Mexican American and Anglo young adults to four televised drinking-and-driving warnings. Warnings were manipulated into collectivist (emphasizing risks to family and friends) and individualist (emphasizing risks to self) appeals, and into high and low power distance appeals by attributing or not attributing warnings to the Surgeon General. Females rated the collectivist warnings, and males the individualist warnings, more believable. Respondents on average responded to the collectivist warnings most positively, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Anglos rated warnings without the Surgeon General as the source more believable than warnings with the Surgeon General as the source; the opposite was true for Latinos. Other interactions were also found.

The Effects of Parental Acculturation and Parenting Practices on the Substance Use of Mexican-Heritage Adolescents from Southwestern Mexican Neighborhoods

“…Rodriguez and Zayas (1990) noted how Mexican culture instills less freedom, more deference, and more structure in social interactions, sheltering women from situations involving antisocial behavior. For example, alcohol use in Latino families may be normative at family gatherings or as a rite of passage into adulthood (Perea & Slater, 1999). These differences for boys and girls across different substances suggest that there may be cultural aspects associated with their link to acculturation and the parenting variables.…”

Ethnic Identity and Substance Use Among Mexican-Heritage Preadolescents

“…Furthermore, traditional gender roles in Mexican culture discourage substance use among girls more than among boys. Alcohol use among Mexican-heritage males in social contexts, such as family gatherings, is generally viewed as acceptable (De La Rosa, 2002), whereas females may be encouraged to abstain from alcohol to avoid potentially negative social consequences for their family and friends (Perea & Slater, 1999). Girls’ more constricted and supervised environments may also limit the degree to which longer residence in the United States increases their risk of actual substance use compared with boys, at least at this early developmental stage.…”

Self-Determination Theory and Risk Behavior in a Collectivistic Society: Preventing Reckless Driving in Urban Nepal

“…The finding that participants were more likely to perceive the behavior as important and see value in the recommendation even when messages were in the form of directives is possibly a cultural difference. It can be argued that Nepali culture is marked by high power distance, where authority figures are not questioned and their directives are held in high regards (Anna Perea, 1999;Hofstede, 2001). Additionally, it is noteworthy that Public Service Announcement (PSAs) about serious health issues, such as protection from HIV/AIDS, mostly have an authoritative tone telling the audience what to do, rather than presenting them in autonomy-support language (Johnson, Flora, & Rimal, 1997).…”